ocean

A moment at a beach on Harris Cyanotype The winds, the sea, and the moving tides are what they are. If there is wonder and beauty and majesty in them, science will discover these qualities… If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but…

Maritime expeditions in the Age of Enlightenment were motivated mainly by scientific curiosity. HMS Challenger set sail from Portsmouth in 1872 to investigate the natural history and geology of the ocean floor. Challenger circumnavigated the globe for three and half years, covering almost 70,000 nautical miles. The crew dredged up thousands of samples and mapped…

The Challenger Expedition followed in the footsteps of many other maritime expeditions. This image features a map from the Challenger Report, showing the routes taken by the prinicpal expeditions, from the first voyage of Captain Cook through to the Challenger Expedition. Cyanotype Varied edition: 10 prints

Challenger Deep is the deepest known point in the Earth’s seabed hydrosphere, with a depth of about 11,000 metres. It is found at the southern end of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. It is named after HMS Challenger, whose crew made the first measurements of its depth. Only four vehicles have descended into…

Challenger (hardback) An exploration By Alice Strange Book Preview “The vast ocean lay scientifically unexplored All the efforts of the previous decade had been directed to the strips of water around the coast and to enclosed or partially enclosed seas; great things had certainly been done there, but as certainly far greater things remained to…

Snell’s window is a phenomenon by which an underwater viewer sees everything above the surface through a cone of light, caused by refraction of light entering the water. The area outside Snell’s window will either be completely dark or reflect underwater objects. Textile panel c. 80x120cm Sold

Snell’s window is a phenomenon by which an underwater viewer sees everything above the surface through a cone of light, caused by refraction of light entering the water. The area outside Snell’s window will either be completely dark or reflect underwater objects. Textile panel c. 80x120cm £150

“Abyss” is from the Greek word ἄβυσσος, meaning bottomless. The abyssal zone of the oceans – 4-6 km – is perpetually dark and cold and silent. Inhabitants, such as the deep-sea anglerfish and the giant squid, must withstand immense pressure. The deepest trenches in the ocean, such as the Mariana Trench in the Pacific, are…

“On the 11th, at 2.50 am, the first iceberg was sighted. At 5 am sails were furled, and a sounding, trawling, and serial temperatures were taken in 1260 fathoms, Diatom ooze, Station 152. Up to the time of the Expedition, about 500 species of radiolarian had been identified. Challenger brought home more than 2,000 new…